How to Enable a Choice Screen Between SMS and Voice for MFA During User Login

Knowledge Articles
, ,
1

Overview

This article describes how to configure multi-factor authentication (MFA) to prompt users with a choice screen, allowing them to select their preferred method—SMS or Voice—during login. The default flow automatically uses SMS without displaying a choice screen. With this configuration, users will see a prompt allowing them to choose between SMS and Voice.

Applies To

  • MFA with SMS and Voice
  • Phone MFA Configuration

Cause

When Phone MFA is enabled in the Auth0 dashboard, both SMS and Voice options are available, but the default experience skips the choice screen, automatically selecting SMS. To present users with the option to select their preferred MFA method on a choice screen, additional tenant configuration update is required.

Solution

To ensure users see a choice screen between SMS and Voice when prompted for MFA:

  1. Enable MFA in the Dashboard:

    • Go to the Auth0 Dashboard
    • Navigate to Security > Multi-factor Auth and enable Phone MFA as well as MFA for each login attempt.

  2. Update Tenant Settings for Choice Screen:

    • By default, SMS is selected without giving users a choice. To enable a choice screen, update the tenant settings through an API request.

    • API Endpoint: Update the Enabled Phone Factors

    • Request Body:
      {
      "message_types": ["voice", "sms"]
      }

    • Log in with a user to verify that the choice screen appears, offering both SMS and Voice options. Users can now select their preferred authentication method before proceeding.

This setup ensures a smoother experience by giving users the flexibility to choose their preferred MFA factor on each login.